10 reasons to go see Interstellar again

Just when you thought Black Holes were getting dull....

Coming to a theatre near you, more previews!

Good things can come in small packages...

Snow Black and White (and those wacky midgets)

Silent films rock -- even new ones...

Who Really Shot JFK?

You won't find out in this lame excuse for investigative journalism. The cover-up lives!.

They Should be Letting us do the new Star Wars movies

We've got lot's of ideas, why isn't anyone calling???.

Guardians of The Galaxy Rocks

The most awesome mix tape - secret formula for success?

The Matrix, Revisited

Where was I in 1999 when they released the first Matrix movie? That's right, I seem to recall now, I was locked in a dull gray cubicle - working on some meaningless IT related project, staring at my monitor, watching the pixels dance their endless somber march up and down, up and down - and then...

The phone rang.

Startled, my headphones came crashing down off my ears, taking those abnormally thick wire rim glasses with them. I peered at the phone with considerable trepidation; "who could it be, why we're they calling me, what had I done" I was thinking and then the damn thing rang again, and again - would it ever stop? Nervously, I picked up the icy plastic handset, my palm was sweating, my arm began to shake - "Hello, this is Steve, what can I do for you."

"Hello, Steve. I've been looking for you," the smooth almost surreal voice seemed to reach out from across some unimaginably great distance.

"What, who is this?" I shot back, with a cautious curiosity.

"You know who it is Steve, you've always known. Every time you've noticed something that didn't make sense, every time that you've felt the world just wasn't quite right - you've felt me, like a toothpick in your mind, I'm the Joe the Matrix guy." Then a hushed silence.

"Uh, umm, Joe, is that you?" So you mean that things like reality television, Ben Affleck and hairless dogs really aren't supposed to exist - I knew it..." No, no , this can't be happening" I stammered.

"Oh but it is happening, just as sure as your taxes are going to rise and that it snows in Alaska, yes the Matrix is real Steve. You must accept it." I could feel him smiling on the other end of the line - somehow I knew he was bald, how did I know that?

"Ok, ok, I have been wondering about something Joe, what is the Matrix?" I offered, not sure whether I really wanted the answer.

"Good, good, the truth is the only thing that will set you free Steve - it's time you accepted it and your destiny. The Matrix is all about control, it is all around you everywhere - it is a prison for your mind. The Matrix is illusion, deception - a distraction for your senses - it is... the mainstream liberal media. "

"What, you mean that Dan Rather really is trying to control my brain, damn it - I knew it, I knew it. What can I do Joe, how can I fight this fiendish virtual reality prison?" Panicked to the point of near exhaustion, I poured a nearby diet coke over my head in a vain attempt to stem the flood of sweat pouring off of me profusely.

"There is only one thing you can do besides voting Republican, Steve; you must return to the source and destroy the wizard who has enslaved your people. This wizard is known as 'the architect.' This wizard is also known in your world as Al Franken..."

"You mean the man with incredibly long nose hairs is the mastermind behind this all? I thought it was Dan Rather. " My mind was adrift in thought, just then the receiver announced something in a tinny voice: "I'm George W. Bush and I approved this message."

I woke up shrieking in horror...


Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, at least up until the point the copyright holders sue you; but be that as it may, I've added some tribute video clips below - I hope you enjoy them:



The Muppets are in the Matrix




Making fun of Windows is entirely too easy these days, especially after that goofy Bill Gates commercial...


Copyright 2008, Raving Reviews

Being Bond

It was a sultry night in Monte Carlo. The roulette wheel was rolling in my favor - I always bet red, red, red. That's when she caught my eye, tall sultry and wearing red lipstick that could melt through the average aluminum beer can.

I had left my tux at the cleaners after busting through a few buttons while attempting to tie my JC Penney's loafers - no choice, I had to wear my Carson Palmer jersey and khaki shorts. Just as well, the disguise was perfect, a disgruntled Bengals fan wandering the Mediterranean looking for a team that didn't lose, searching for adventure and spying for her majesty's secret service.

The lanky brunette, obviously impressed by my winning style and rugged yet dangerous good looks sauntered over to me - she asked me something, but it was in French and I had forgotten all of the French I learned in College so I pulled out my high tech universal translation device - apparently she wanted to know whether my goldfish smoked cigars. Immediately I understood, it was a code, but for what?

I smiled and answered with my secret code response "C'est La vie, vous le vous couche avec moi?" She stared at me with penetrating determination before slapping me silly - damn those inter-service rivalries. I then retreated to my sultry car, turned the ignition and let the cats roar, all four of them, as my electric runabout flew up the hill at a mind numbing speed, at least until the policeman on the moped overtook me. He stepped off of his sinister looking vehicle slowly, I checked it carefully for hidden machine-gun ports.

He asked me my name and I handed over my international driver's license and answered him coyly; I'm Bond, James Bond. He gave me a sultry look, I then became worried...

Being male is being Bond, as we enter the world of James Bond we become perpetual adolescents - wishing for the adventure, the intrigue, the savoir-faire that only he can experience; but at least we get to join in vicariously. With that spirit I eagerly await the upcoming release of the latest Bond film, Quantum of Solace.

BTW - I like my Corona w/ lime shaken, not stirred.


Copyright 2008, Raving Reviews

The Zen of Movie Watching

There is an art to appreciating art, or pseudo-art or even stuff that isn't that artistic at all. Once upon a time in a different century, I sat diligently at my local university and learned how to appreciate modern cinema in a course titled aptly enough "Film Appreciation 101." At the time, I remember being torn as to whether it was a wonderful deal or a giant rip off to be sitting through an entire semester doing not much more than watching movies.

Oh, but have the years piled on the wisdom - I can now see through the prism of hindsight how that class imparted to me a power unrivaled in the universe, the power to critique. The critic is a mighty sorcerer, finding nuggets of wisdom where none exist, turning lead into gold and duds into artistic masterpieces. For the zen of movie watching is of course founded upon the premise that the movie itself is only half of the experience - the other half is yours truly, or in your case your yours truly. Film watching and film interpretation separate the crash test dummies from the poet philosophers, the barbarian from civilization, the reality of the senses from the reality of the mind. Not even Yoda knew that such power existed, if he had perhaps he would have defeated Darth Vader and avoided several episodes of the Star Wars saga - which would have really upset my son, but anyway I digress.

"With great power comes great responsibility," or so they said in that Spiderman movie, which otherwise really sucked. Anyone can become a critic, and everyone is a critic at one time or another in their lifetime - those moments occur when you step outside of the normal role of consumer and ask yourself, "why the heck did I buy this crap." That's where it all starts, as the ability to isolate truly bad film-making is innately endowed upon us at birth. But as we hone and flex those powers our other sensibilities begin to emerge, the ability to understand lighting principles, the appreciation for technical genius with digital creations, the ability to correlate the quality of the script with the overall impact of the film.

Movies are an integrated experience - each separate portion of the whole will produce different reactions in each critic as we all have unique predispositions to bring to bear. Movies are relativistic, whoever in the family has control of the remote determines which movies to critique. And in each movie we see a little bit of ourselves, whether as reflections or whole hearted Walter Mitty-esqe escapes into fantasy. Many a veteran viewer exhibits the 100 yard trance from the sofa as we can see them lost in the pixels, blended into a storyline - reality is only as real as we want it be.

True wisdom emanates not from the rock, but blossoms anew in each petal... Well, I have no idea whatsoever that means but it sounded zen-like and artistic so I threw it in. Remember, the true power of art that imitates life is like the man with his remote clicking at the man with his remote on the other side of the screen and both deciding that this particular movie rated only two stars.


Copyright 2011, Raving Reviews